Some of the loss in diversity and biomass of native insects has been masked (and partly caused) by invasions of non-native species. This is especially true of ladybugs, a diverse group which in some areas has been almost completely replaced by a single non-native species.

I pray this year was a fluke and it will get better next summer.
Very few insects compared to a couple of years ago.
Forest full of dying or dead beetles becouse it was too dry. It was not a varm summer but it didnt rain much at all.

Basicly no mosquitos and not many other flying bugs. Did not have to kill more than mayby two flys inside the house this year and i live near the forest.
Ants also low in number, many years ago they came into the house so we had to use traps.

I wish they had estimated change in abundances as well as change in richness. Also, their paper's p-value-based statistical methodology obscures the really important information, which is the size of the effect being measured. The decline in richness is actually somewhat less than what I would have expected; in low and middle elevation sites, between 5% and 25% of the species have been lost. This is still very bad, of course. But I was expecting worse._________________Lou Jost
www.ecomingafoundation.wordpress.comwww.loujost.com

Today my wife, who is an ardent gardener, commented about there are almost no insects on our property. We live on a hardwood forest mountain in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania USA and I have also noticed a significant drop in insect species. No Lacewings for over four years when they were ubiquitous, fewer beetles, fewer jumping spiders and (thankfully) fewer Shtink Bugs.

I have noticed it a lot in the Pyrenees in Spain, where I do not know there is any great change in temperature, but in the areas that i was it is hard to imagine it is because of loss of habitat or pesticides, mainly because there is no agriculture or human activity._________________www.scientificillustration.net

Over here in South Australia, there's been a noticeable decline in caterpillar species. I haven't seen the so-called grapevine caterpillars in many years. I consider myself somewhat fortunate to photograph a few individuals when I had the chance.

As if things couldn't get more depressing, WWF reports a "60% decline in wild animal populations since 1970". That's staggering. Perversely, I hope they're not exaggerating as that will only provide ammo for the inevitable "deniers" and lobbyists - for whom money is the only consideration. They don't comprehend that even if they amass all the money in the world, they still won't be able to afford the last chicken!

Most of all, what I really can't understand is why this receives so little (or no) obvious comment or concern from the general public. It's not happening over geological or even evolutionary time scales. It's happening *within* our lifetimes fer cryin' out loud!

what I really can't understand is why this receives so little (or no) obvious comment or concern from the general public

I believe that part of the problem is that most people simply do not like nature. Yes, they like nice flowers, romantic sunsets and sweet, harmless and colorful animals like butterlies and Pandas. And they like to use nice landscapes for personal physical challenges and training.

But the rest of it! Most people prefer to live in a city made out of bricks, steel, glass and concrete just to get away from all the creepy, dirty, slimy, muddy, cruel and nasty nature. And if they owe some soil they fight hard to kill anything that tries to invade their private homes and gardens.

When I go to meetings in our local nature preservation society, I see a dozen old men and ladys with grey hair. We are the last generation to remember a childhood with playing along the creek, climbing trees in the wood and exploring the wilderness around us.

In the last few years I have seen some young people join us at the nature excursions and meetings. That gives me a new hope. But it looks as if we have lost almost an entire generation._________________Troels Holm, biologist (retired), environmentalist, amateur photographer.
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